Dealing With Trauma in 'Chaplains'

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5 Nov 2015By Under the Radar

Chaplains, a new 2-hour, 2-part documentary about religious men and women who provided comfort to the suffering in non-denominational settings, premieres this month on public television stations around the country (check broadcast dates and times at this link).

The military chapter of Martin Doblmeier's film profiles Father Paul Hurley, a US Army Colonel and Catholic priest who serves the troops as the senior military chaplain in Afghanistan, overseeing as many as 100 chaplains of different faiths. His story confronts the larger questions about God and war, faith and freedom and the price to be paid for both. Travelling across the dangerous theatre of war, Father Hurley provides counsel to his chaplains and the soldiers they serve; while many are not religious they still derive comfort from a chaplain’s care. But a number of the chaplains serving in Afghanistan also served in Iraq, and the experience has tested the endurance of even the most committed.